The stress the COVID-19 Omicron variant has put on the school system has postponed the Long-Range Facilities Plan process until further notice, said the Okanagan Skaha Board of Education.
“We need to focus on keeping kids in classrooms and keeping them safe,” said board chair James Palanio at Monday’s board meeting.
Now is not the time to engage the public in such a large process, he added.
Currently, there are six schools in SD67 being monitored by Interior Health for high absenteeism. Many teachers and support staff have also been away sick throughout the district, said Superintendent Todd Manual.
READ MORE: Six schools in Penticton area being monitored for high absenteeism
The board started the long-range facilities plan process over a year ago by creating a staff-led steering committee, hiring a consultant, and collecting data. This was all done to ensure a robust, and well visioned long-range facilities plan would be achieved, said board chair James Palanio.
“We are all frustrated. There have been a lot of hours put in already and this plan impacts many people in the school system,” said trustee Dave Stathers.
A survey had already been put out to families of SD67, providing information about current enrolment and projected enrolments for each school in the district, planning for future efficiency of facilities including the possibility of consolidating schools.
The board has taken into consideration how difficult the process has been due to the ongoing and ever-changing limitations and restrictions caused by the pandemic, the board stated in a press release.
“The board also considered the community and their current stress levels regarding the pandemic. As the Long-Range Facilities Plan process would include public engagement, it would be difficult to have robust and thorough discussions online. It is the board’s hope that it can restart the process later in the year and give guidance to a new board in the fall,” said the release.
At the meeting, trustee Linda Van Alphen said that the postponement doesn’t mean a long-range plan is no longer on the table.
“Postponing doesn’t mean we are putting it away and shelving it. It’s just delaying it,” she said. “We just feel that it is too convoluted to make these kinds of decisions during a COVID spike,” said Van Alphen.
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